"A [preacher] who does not love art, poetry, music and nature can be dangerous. Blindness and deafness toward the beautiful are not incidental; they are necessarily reflected in his [preaching]." — BXVI

According to many Catholic theologians, there are two purifications
in the spiritual life: a purification of the sense, and a purification of
the spirit. The purification of the sense is brought on by loss of
friends, fortune and the like.
In this, we are deprived of consolations in order to bring us to trust
in God more than in our own resources. In this purification,
temptations, which involve chastity and patience, are frequent.

The purification of the spirit involves the higher levels of the
soul, so the temptation involved in it are against the theological
virtues. These temptations are, by their nature, greater than temptations
involving patience, although patience is also involved in their
resolution.

Go read the whole thing! And please leave Ann a comment. . .

* I misspelled Ann's last name in the original post. Now corrected!
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